Marcus Hayes: Tiger's time is now

TIGER'S BACK. Say what you will about pig-headed LeBron, fuzzy-headed Sidney, bobble-headed Peyton and big-headed Albert, no first-name figure in sports resonates globally like Tiger Woods.

In the month of Madness, with the playoff races tightening for the winter sports, with spring training providing its annual misinformation, and with the preening NFL licking its own, er, fur, Tiger returns.

The most dominant athlete in the history of sport this week begins in earnest his reascension to golf's throne, his equinoctial March to the Masters, which begins in a little more than 2 weeks. Tiger claims that his left knee and Achilles' tendon are sound, even after the latter cost him a chance at the WGC-Cadillac Championships just 10 days ago. He withdrew on the 12th hole of the final round.

Now, Tiger is in the middle of 8 straight days of golf. After a practice round Sunday at Augusta National, he played in the 2-day friendly among the frat boys from four exclusive country clubs called the Tavistock Cup. Wednesday, he felt a "twinge" in his back during the pro-am of the Arnold Palmer Invitational near Orlando, which he began today with a first-round 69. He has won at Bay Hill six times.

Tiger says he needs to play a lot to temper his rebuilt swing in the forge of the competition.

He told ESPN that, when his swing is "dialed in," he is the best player in the game; Tiger never boasts.

He is back, and, it seems, almost nobody cares.

How is this possible? How could the Babe Ruth of this century return, with a chance to win, and it not be the biggest deal going?

Because he is Tiger Woods, cold and alienating, even at his height. Tiger, who inelegantly destroyed his family and entered rehab.

You reap what you sow.

Still, sport is rife with rapscallions and boors, none of whom made $1 billion as he entered the prime of his career.

Tiger might be 36, but oh, the prime is now.

Ben Hogan was 37 at the beginning of 1950, but he won 11 times, including six of his nine majors. This, after a horrific car accident at 36 that nearly killed him and left him with five fractures and chronic circulation issues.

Tiger? He's got a bad knee and some image problems.

And lots and lots of drama. Golf needs drama.

There is a measure of tension between unofficial mentor Lee Westwood and uninterested mentee Rory McIlroy, but that cannot compare with the Tiger-Phil dynamic.

The bulky Brit and the guileless young Irishman met in the semifinal of the World Golf Championship Accenture Match Play Championship. McIlroy had abandoned their shared management don and had embarrassed Westwood into playing more in the States this year.

McIlroy won, the torch was passed. Anticlimactically, McIlroy collapsed in the final.

Compare that with the loveless, final-round showdown that paired Mickelson and Woods two Pebble Beach sunsets before Valentine's Day. Now, that was entertainment.

These are the men who rejuvenated the game, who erected skyscrapers of corporate wealth around the homes and churches that Jack and Arnie built.

Mickelson beat Tiger by 11 strokes that day and won, which matters.

Tiger finished eighth. That matters even more.

Since last October at the Frys.com, when Tiger declared himself ready to unveil his latest reconstructed swing and his really ugly shoes, Tiger finished in the top 30 in every tournament until the Cadillac, where he was on a top-20 pace.

That includes a 9-under finish over the final three rounds at the Frys.com. Even before that, U.S. captain Fred Couples named Woods to the President's Cup.

Aussie golf god and International Team coach Greg Norman, who has appointed himself Tiger's sensei in absentia, criticized the selection. Tiger, who generally ignores Norman, crushed Norman protégé Aaron Baddeley to clinch the Cup.

Woods had carried the momentum from the Frys.com to the Australian Open, where he led after two rounds and finished third. That field included Adam Scott, who stole Tiger's caddy, and big hitter Bubba Watson, who has stolen a lot of Tiger's fans.

The Cup readied Tiger for the Chevron World Challenge in December. Which he won. With birdie putts on the last two holes. To take home $1.2 million and vault from 50th in the world to 21st.

He has continued the climb. He finished third in Abu Dhabi in late January, behind windswept Robert Rock and McIlroy. Then Pebble; then the wiry greens at the Match Play that knocked him out in the second round.

Then the Honda, where Tiger posted a career-best 62 on Sunday early in the day but watched McIlroy stumble in to win. So, consistently good golf, right? So, why no hubbub?

Because other hubbub obscured the golf.

Woods' comeback first was muffled by his bigoted ex-caddy, Steve Williams, a narcissistic bully in sneakers whose mouth made big news late last season. Then, this year, came the unauthorized tell-all from Woods' repellant former swing coach, Hank Haney.

Tiger had fired them both. Given their loathsome actions in the aftermath, the firings appear to be a healthy part of Tiger's overall cleansing.

He seems clean now. Just in time: Every sport needs a killer.

Who is golf's killer?

Luke Donald, whose soft hands and softer drives helped him snake the No. 1 ranking twice? He won't even take his pop-gun game to daunting Bay Hill.

McIlroy, who, upon attaining top-dog status, snubbed Arnie, put on a sheer T-shirt, went to see his buddy LeBron play . . . and lost the No. 1 ranking while idle?

Westwood, who, at 38, so badly needs a major before he's 40 that he quit drinking?

Mickelson, who spent most of Tiger's purgatory sentence of the past 2 years failing to secure the No. 1 spot?

No.

It needs Tiger.

It needs him to contend this week, to poise himself for a fifth green jacket, to continue his run at Jack Nicklaus' 18 majors. He's just four away.

The pins are lined up: Rory, Luke, Phil, Lee. All Tiger has to do is knock them down.

We get to watch.